Department of Orthodontics, Okayama University Hospital, Kita-ku, Okayama 700-8525, Japan.
Exp Cell Res. 2012 Mar 10;318(5):453-63. doi: 10.1016/j.yexcr.2012.01.008. Epub 2012 Jan 11.
Embryonic stem cell-associated antigens are expressed in a variety of adult stem cells as well as embryonic stem cells. In the present study, we investigated whether stage-specific embryonic antigen (SSEA)-4 can be used to isolate dental pulp (DP) stem cells. DP cells showed plastic adherence, specific surface antigen expression, and multipotent differentiation potential, similar to mesenchymal stem cells (MSC). SSEA-4+ cells were found in cultured DP cells in vitro as well as in DP tissue in vivo. Flow cytometric analysis demonstrated that 45.5% of the DP cells were SSEA-4+. When the DP cells were cultured in the presence of all-trans-retinoic acid, marked downregulation of SSEA-3 and SSEA-4 and the upregulation of SSEA-1 were observed. SSEA-4+ DP cells showed a greater telomere length and a higher growth rate compared to ungated and SSEA-4- cells. A clonal assay demonstrated that 65.5% of the SSEA-4+ DP cells had osteogenic potential, and the SSEA-4+ clonal DP cells showed multilineage differentiation potential toward osteoblasts, chondrocytes, and neurons in vitro. In addition, the SSEA-4+ DP cells had the capacity to form ectopic bone in vivo. Thus, our results suggest that SSEA-4 is a specific cell surface antigen that can be used to identify DP stem cells.
胚胎干细胞相关抗原在多种成体干细胞和胚胎干细胞中表达。本研究旨在探讨阶段特异性胚胎抗原（SSEA）-4 是否可用于分离牙髓（DP）干细胞。DP 细胞具有与间充质干细胞（MSC）相似的塑性黏附、特定表面抗原表达和多向分化潜能。体外培养 DP 细胞和体内 DP 组织中均发现 SSEA-4+细胞。流式细胞术分析表明，45.5%的 DP 细胞为 SSEA-4+。当 DP 细胞在全反式视黄酸存在下培养时，SSEA-3 和 SSEA-4 的表达明显下调，SSEA-1 的表达上调。与未门控和 SSEA-4-细胞相比，SSEA-4+DP 细胞的端粒长度更长，生长速度更快。克隆实验表明，65.5%的 SSEA-4+DP 细胞具有成骨潜能，SSEA-4+克隆 DP 细胞在体外具有向成骨细胞、软骨细胞和神经元多谱系分化的潜能。此外，SSEA-4+DP 细胞具有在体内形成异位骨的能力。因此，我们的结果表明，SSEA-4 是一种可用于鉴定 DP 干细胞的特异性细胞表面抗原。
